


The War on Winter

by HolmesianDeduction



Series: 25 Days of Holiday Fic 2k12 [18]
Category: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011), Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - All Media Types, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - John Le Carré
Genre: 25 Days of Fic, Alternate Universe, Domestic, Gen, M/M, Sledding, Winter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-21
Updated: 2012-12-21
Packaged: 2017-11-21 23:06:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 365
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/603076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HolmesianDeduction/pseuds/HolmesianDeduction
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>[25 Days of Holiday Fic: Day 20 - Sled]</p>
<p>Every year, Peter wages a war against winter in general.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The War on Winter

             The winter season was a period of seemingly perpetual discontent for Peter.  Between the dull ache in his joints that he refused to acknowledge, even to George, and the constant battle to keep the fish pond from icing over, his speech was frequently sprinkled with bitter complaining about the season and irate cursing of the possibility of snowfall.  Even George, for whom snow was a mortal enemy, tolerated winter better than Peter, and it was often up to the older man to soothe his rankled nerves after a particularly difficult time breaking up the ice that had begun to form on the surface of the pond.

             George suspected that more than anything, what Peter hated about the winter - and about the snow in particular - was the activities of the neighbourhood children, against whom Peter was locked in constant combat.  Some offences were minor - George had managed to convince him that the snowmen built in the front garden which were clearly meant to resemble the home’s occupants were charming in a way.  Others were even inconsequential - the sight of an infuriated Peter pelting a fleeing crowd of children with snowballs when an errant missile had struck the Porsche was more comical than harmful.

             It was on the rare occasion that a handful of boys decided that the slope  that led into their back garden was a prime sledding spot that ended in a careening stop onto their back steps.  George couldn’t count the number of times that a sledful of boys had skidded to a halt to find themselves staring up at Peter’s fixed scowl.  Most of them invariably escaped, but even at this age, Peter was more than quick and agile enough to catch at least one, who was ruthlessly interrogated until either he gave up his compatriots or George interceded.

             It was three winters before Peter came home to find a neatly installed wooden fence surrounding the back garden, with, unbeknownst to him, a small buffer on the other side to prevent anyone from hitting it too hard after coming down a hill.  He had raised his eyebrows and given an inquiring look, but George had only smiled behind his book and said nothing.


End file.
